Columbia Design League

What is Columbia Design League?

We are a group of Columbia Museum of Art members who share a belief that design matters in every area of modern life. Our annual seasons abound with lectures and discussions led by architects, designers, artists, and other luminaries. The Design League collaborates with academic, civic, and professional organizations to bring appealing and insightful design programs and events to the region.

2019-2020 Season Calendar*

September 20, 2019
Annual Meeting featuring POPup - The Inflatable Movement: Redefining Architecture
Adrienne Montare and Tom Savory explore the origins of inflatable structures

October 24, 2019
Play with Your City Winning Design Reveal & Street Party
See how the Lady Street corridor is transformed with urban design.

November 6, 2019
Meet the Designer: Designing Nephron
Tour the state-of-the-art facility, learn about the design process, innovative packaging design and pharmaceutical delivery systems.

Events Coming in 2020:

Meet the Designer: Yazi
Learn more about Wayfinding Design and the new signage system put in place downtown

Mr. Modernism - George Smart
Exploring mid-century and modernist architecture

Reinventing Knoxville with Sanders-Pace Architecture

*dates, speakers and locations subject to change

Become a Member

$5 for Students

$15 for Avant Garde and Solo

$25 for other membership levels

You'll have a chance to add the Columbia Design League to your membership during checkout.

Join the CMA

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Play With Your City

Play With Your City 2019: Reimagining Lady Street

The winner has been announced! Learn more about the changes you'll be seeing on Lady Street in October.

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The Public Restroom: Fear, Decency, and Design

The Columbia Design League presents Harvey Molotch, a professor of sociology and metropolitan studies at NYU and co-editor of the book Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, has a beef with American public bathrooms — the physical design often makes an important everyday experience exceedingly uncomfortable.

Upcoming Events

See All Upcoming Columbia Design League Events

05 / January

Columbia Design League presents Dinner by Design: Van Gogh and His Culinary Inspirations

Columbia Design League and Kristian Niemi, owner of Columbia restaurants Bourbon and Black Rooster, present a culinary adventure taking guests through the artists and countries that inspired Van Gogh.

See All Upcoming Columbia Design League Events

Past Events

Design Presentation featuring Philip Freelon

Philip G. Freelon, FAIA, is founder of Durham, N.C. architectural firm the Freelon Group. The Freelon Group is the architect of record for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Freelon serves as the design guarantor, ensuring the design reflects the values and priorities of the museum and the Smithsonian Institution.

February 2016

Screening and Discussion featuring Mack McCary & Matthew Miller

"If You Build It" is a documentary about a year in the life of one of America's most innovative classrooms, where students design and build to transform their hometown community. Designer-activists lead their students through a year-long, full-scale design and build project that does much more than just teach basic construction skills: it shows ten teenagers the power of design-thinking to reinvent not just their town, but their own sense of what's possible.

September 2015

An Evening with Architect and Educator Stephen Chung

Chung is host of the four-part public television series Cool Spaces! The Best New Architecture. In the show, he profiles buildings and spaces across the U.S. that have been created by architects and others who pushed the boundaries of design, materials and process. From napkin sketches to study models, Chung leads design buffs behind the scenes and into the architect’s mind, exploring the design process before the first wall is built.

May 2014

Lecture and Q&A with MTV's Jeffrey Keyton

Special lecture and Q&A session with SVP for On-Air Design and Off-Air Creative, MTV and MTV2, Jeffrey Keyton. Keyton oversees the award-winning design teams at MTV and has been instrumental in defining MTV’s distinctive visual personality for the last 20 years.

March 2011

Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio

Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio is a documentary film on the late architect Samuel Mockbee and the radical educational design/build program known as the Rural Studio. The film explores Mockbee's effort to provide students with an experience that forever inspires them to consider how they can use their skills to better their communities.

February 2011